The present invention is directed to sprayers and spraying devices, especially sprayers for use in the garden or around the home. The invention is directed towards sprayers for applying water or aqueous material, such as fertilizer, pesticides, and the like. The present invention is more especially directed to continuous sprayers in which a pressurized liquid is discharged through a nozzle by hand actuation of a trigger or lever.
Continuous sprayers that are presently available generally require a pressurized tank, in which, prior to a spraying operation, the tank must be charged by a hand pump. These sprayers are usually heavy and rather cumbersome to use, as well as being rather expensive. Small, self-contained, hand-held sprayers generally do not provide continuous action, but only provide intermittent spraying. That is, the small sprayers can spray when the handle or trigger is squeezed, but not otherwise. Moreover, no one has previously proposed a satisfactory hand-held sprayer with separate tank, as the problem of providing both pressurization and shut-off within the same hand-held sprayer device has eluded the industry.